Oakridge’s classy new 2021 864 Cabernet + a few big reds (from just $18)

Tasting young Cabernet sometimes feels more like crystal-ball gazing than a trip to pleasure town. I know we don’t end up emptying many young Cabernet wines over dinner, either. But older wines? Yes, please. Anyway, the problem is usually that even the best Cab releases tend to be arms and legs until they’re almost a decade old, typically with a fight between oak, tannins, and perhaps some angular herbaceousness (and little fun). No wonder Cabernet is (anecdotally) going backward in the local popularity stakes. Still, the best wines will still impress on release – like this Oakridge 864 Oakridge Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2021.

Typically, Dave Bicknell’s Oakridge Yarra Valley Chardonnay & Pinot Noir wines are the heroes, with a precision and intensity about them that says ‘Burgundy is for fools with too much money’. But in many vintages, the Oakridge Cabernet wines – particularly from the ‘original’ Oakridge Vineyard around the winery – can be real stars. This 2021 edition is such a formative wine that feels special from the start. Cool, coiled, tannic, subtle. Right. Lead pencils, cedar, cassis. All the varietal Cabernet bits and plenty of dark berry ripe Yarra Valley fruit and a powerful, serious and wrapped up tight personality. It’s a bolder and coffee/dark berried wine compared to, say, the 2021 Mount Mary Quintet, but it also feels more drinkable this decade as a result, with a very important plus sign for the future.

Best drinking: later, and likely in a decade (and it will be alive in twenty years without doubt). 18.5/20, 94/100+. 13.8%, $98. Would I buy it? It’s not cheap, but well worth a bottle.

Also in full-flavoured reds this week:

Terre à Terre Crayères Vineyard Reserve 2019

The top dog wine for Terre à Terre and basically a barrel selection of Cabernet Sauvignon/Shiraz/Cabenet Franc (62:19:19) from the Crayères Vineyard. Spends seven months in 100% new oak too, and then 12 months in an older foudre. It’s completely unready, with only red fruit escaping from the oak, a wine for the future. The tannins are powdery and suggest plenty, but at the moment, this is not an easy drink – more oaky attack than seduction. Quality is there; it’s just about when this red becomes drinkable (which will be later this century).

Best drinking: in the 2030s. 17.7/20, 92/100+. 14.5%, $95. Would I buy it? Just a glass for now.

Burge Family Winemakers Olive Hill Shiraz Grenache 2019

Historically, Rick Burge’s Burge Family Wines were always heroic, with this irrepressible Barossan volume that lit the world on fire back in the early 2000s. They were still well-priced all the way up until Rick sold the business in 2018. Now, with DJ Derek from Paisley in the winery, the style hasn’t changed (nor has the prices, really). Here, we’re into Barossa red wine at its most dense. An incredibly thick, ripe and luscious Barossan red, with mushroomy bacon fat caramel warm red fruit opulence. It’s unquestionably ripe, closer to port in weight and finish, but irrepressible in its surprisingly soft and cosseting wall of slightly pruney evocative flavour. The hyper caramel richness is a bit much for more than a glass, personally, but I admire this wine a lot.

Best drinking: now. Don’t wait. 17.7/20, 92/100. 15%, $35. Would I buy it? A glass.

Paisley Denim Mataro 2021

I think some of Derek’s best wines are Mataro and Grenache, with this red a well priced winner. Luscious, dark and actually quite approachable big Barossan red. Brown sugar, coffee grounds, purple berries. Has a pulpy black softness to it. Maybe a bit oak-shaped but lovely, mouthfilling warm wine of open, hedonistic appeal with that savoury blackness that Mataro does so well.

Best drinking: good now. 17.7/20, 92/100. 14.9%, $30. Would I buy it? A glass or two.

Chateau Tanunda The Chateau Cabernet Sauvignon 2022

Eden Valley Cabernet can be great. Just look at Henschke’s often grand Cyril. Anyway, this Chateau Tanunda comes from the 76-acre estate vineyard in the Eden Valley. It tastes like Eden Valley fruit too, with a tobacco leaf and spearmint edge you don’t see in the lower, warm parts of the Barossa zone. It’s just a little minty, perhaps, to be really sexy, but there is a leafy, dark berry volume, if just a bit clumsy. Will be a ripper with another five years in bottle.

Best drinking: 17.5/20, 91/100+. 14.5%, $40. Would I buy it? A glass.

Taylors Estate Label Tempranillo 2022

McLaren Vale & Clare Valley fruit. This is the best red in the Taylors Estate Label range, and quite a surprise. Milk chocolate, both oak and fruit, and this silken hazelnut and plum profile that is really quite impressive with none of the jutting acidity in some of the other Taylors Estate wines. Smooth, even if a little oaky, and really quite generous, especially given that you can pick this up for $16 direct from the Taylors website.

Best drinking: in the nearish future. 17.5/20, 91/100. 14.5%, $22. Would I buy it? Well worth a glass.

Longhop Old Vine Cabernet Sauvignon 2022

Dom Torzi & Tim Freeland’s Longhop wines are both well priced and packed with flavour. No exception with this $25 bargain from the Adelaide Plains. Clean dusty blackberry Cabernet nose is on the money too – it’s ripe and more about deep fruit than trying to be subtle, but that’s just part of the vibe. Eucalpyt, blackberries, warmth and black pastile fruit with a dusty chocolate edge. It’s just a shitload of chunky Cabernet flavour for few dollars.

Best drinking: now and for plenty of years yet. 17.5/20, 91/100. 14.2%, $24.99. Would I buy it? A glass.

Patritti McLaren Vale Shiraz 2021

Ah, McLaren Vale Shiraz. So round and mouthfilling. Dark purple-red coloured, this Shiraz initially smells a bit diffuse and reductive. Still, there is good purple fruit underneath, with plump purple plum and soft but present tannins giving this classical body and plump fruit, even if the acidity is a bit jaunty. Likeable and generous in an archetypal Vale red mode, it’s an easy recommendation.

Best drinking: now. 17/20, 90/100. 14.5%, $28. Would I buy it? A glass.

Chapel Hill The Parson Cabernet Sauvignon 2022

Well-priced Cabernet Sauvignon, and what do you know, it’s also from McLaren Vale? Again, this has a prominent cedary/spearmint/leafy Cabernet edge in a dusty, angular but proper style. It’s just a bit lean, but the Cabernet charisma is pretty compelling, complete with proper tannin and everything. It needs a little more stuffing but for $18? A no-brainer.

Best drinking: now and for the next five years easy. 17/20, 90/100. 14.5%, $18. Would I buy it? A glass.